First Veil by Julia Older

First Veil

I pulled the chador

down over my forehead

and took a step.

It slipped back.

I pulled it down

and tucked the corner

into my waistband.

Again it slipped.

I pulled it down

over my forehead,

pinning it in place

with one palm

under my chin.

It slipped over

one shoulder

showing my dress.

Quickly, I pulled it back.

But it gaped open

and fell down

over one shoulder.

I pulled the chador down

over my forehead.

Holding it down

with one palm

I held the edge

in my teeth.

Thus, I was to speak

to the learnéd men.

Julia Older is wearing her “First Veil” poem on the cover of Tahirih Unveiled (Turning Point Books, 2007), a novel-in-verse about early poet and women’s rights activist Tahirih of Persia. For a collaboration, NH linguist and fabric artist Rachel Lehr took a veil-length piece of her hand-dyed silk and Older’s poem to her Afghan Handwork Collective in Kabul; it returned a masterpiece embroidered in silver and gold. You can hear an audio clip of Julia reading Tahirih” from this award-winning collection (Independent Publisher 2008 Bronze Poetry Medal) and find other books by Older at http://www.appledorebooks.com/. Since Older co-walked and authored her first book about the Appalachian Trail with MacDowell Fellow novelist-photographer Steve Sherman, she has written full time in the foothills of Grand Monadnock.

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Poem appears in Connecticut Review 2004, Tahirih Unveiled (Turning Point Books, 2007.) Poem and photo used here with the permission of the poet. All rights reserved.